March 17, 2022
Colby Covington thinks he’d stylistically fair well against the UFC middleweight champion.
Covington (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC), a former two-time title challenger at welterweight and former UFC interim champion, is adamant that his wrestling will be too much for Israel Adesanya (22-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC).
His mentor Chael Sonnen has been rallying for the potential fight, and Covington doesn’t see why not.
“I think I can definitely go up to 185 and fight Adesanya,” Covington told Submission Radio. “But I don’t know if he’s gonna turn around like that. But he doesn’t have a dance partner right now. I mean, some of the guys they’re trying to line him up with, it’s unoriginal. Why can (Kamaru) Usman fight him and all the fans want that, but the guy that beat Usman – I beat Usman. I beat Usman twice. Usman sucks, dude. Everybody knew in Madison Square Garden I won those last three rounds."
“It was an easy win for me, easy decision victory. Unanimous. So, why can’t I fight Adesanya? He can’t stop my wrestling. I’ll pick him up and drop him on his f*cking head. He’s a cardio kickboxer. They got enough cardio kickboxers in women’s classes around the U.S. Like, I could go join one of those as well, but I decided to pick up hard grueling American wrestling. So, I don’t think Adesanya could stop my American wrestling, and I don’t think he’s that good a fighter.”
Covington bounced back from his title fight rematch against welterweight champion Kamaru Usman with a dominant win over ex-teammate Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272 in March.
He’s since taken aim at another American Top Team member in Dustin Poirier, and sees either “The Diamond” or Adesanya as logical next matchups for him.
“I want to give the fans the biggest fight possible,” Covington said. “So, I don’t cut weight to go to 170, so I’m not gonna go up to 185 and make it a full-time home. But I’m waiting for the big fights to present themselves. And the two biggest fights in my mind, go beat up Adesanya, the guy who just has cardio kickboxing, he’s not that good of a fighter, he’s not well-rounded, he can’t stop my American wrestling.
“I’ll melt that guy. He’ll a hundred percent melt under my pressure and my pace. Or fight Dustin, the guy who said it’s on sight. He wants to come up to my weight class 170, he said this and that, he’s supposed to be some pound-for-pound great fighter. So, if you’re pound-for-pound great, then come fight. What are you so scared of, man? Like, how are you going to live with yourself knowing that I talked down on your family and on your people and your friends and you didn’t do sh*t about it. You didn’t even try.”
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